Recreating the Scene: An Investigation of Police Report Writing

Han Yu Kansas State University ; Natalie Monas Kansas State University

Abstract

Police officers do a significant amount of high-stake writing in police reports, but report writing is given little attention in policy academies, and prevailing guidelines treat the task as a mechanical process of recording facts. As a result, officers are ill-prepared for this essential and inherently complex task. In this study, we interviewed officers to study what makes for a good police report. Our findings reveal that police reports are goal-directed genre actions. This understanding peers through the positivist emphasis on factual details to emphasize the social function of police reports in the criminal justice system.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2020-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0047281618812441
Open Access
Closed

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Written Communication

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Written Communication
  3. Written Communication
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Also cites 12 works outside this index ↓
  1. Writing selves/writing societies: Research from activity perspectives
  2. 10.1348/096317904774202153
  3. 10.1350/ijps.2009.11.4.147
  4. 10.2307/798843
  5. 10.1002/jip.139
  6. 10.1177/1098611103261821
  7. 10.1002/acp.2350080103
  8. Luzón, M. J. (2005). Genre analysis in technical communication. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communicati…
  9. 10.1080/00335638409383686
  10. 10.1002/9780470713389.ch1
  11. 10.1093/police/par049
  12. 10.1037/1076-8971.5.2.355
CrossRef global citation count: 17 View in citation network →